‘Job opportunities on upswing in infrastructure sector’

New Delhi, Aug 20 (IANS) The infrastructure sector has contributed a significant share of 12 percent to the total job growth posted in the country in the first quarter of current fiscal, according to an industry lobby study released Wednesday.The study by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry in India (Assocham) said high investments in different sectors like aviation, construction, energy, core infrastructure and metals and mining have increased the pace of job generation.

“Removing the infrastructure bottlenecks is seen as a good business opportunity by the private players. The sector is emerging as a potential employment generator with its share set to leap further,” Assocham president Sajjan Jindal said.

The sample of the study was based on the vacancies posted in the national and regional dailies, journals and job portals like “timesjobs.com” and “naukri.com”, he added.

The construction segment has the maximum share of 24.32 percent in the total employment generation in the infrastructure sector. The number of job openings in the segment remained buoyant on account of a rise in the construction activities of different projects.

With metal prices going high, the mining activities have gone up at an increased pace. The segment has the second largest share in the infrastructure sector job openings with a total of 3,047 newly created jobs.

Energy has a share of 18.80 percent with the number of job openings in the segment totalling 2,365. The aviation sector has a share of 17.89 percent with 2,251 job openings.

Core infrastructure has been the least contributing segment in terms of the number of jobs generated in the quarter. It has created 1,857 jobs and has a share of 14.76 percent.

“Cornering more than two-thirds share in the job creation, Tier I cities generated a total of 8,506 job openings in the infrastructure sector. Among the Tier I cities, the financial capital of India, Mumbai generated the maximum employment opportunities with a share of 29.31 percent,” the report said.

Delhi and Chennai came at second and third positions with a share of 15.53 percent and 12.90 percent respectively.

Pune and Ahmedabad are the top job generators among the Tier II cities with a share of 37.28 percent and 22.22 percent respectively.